Study purports to show Tasers can cause cardiac arrest

The always contentious debate about Tasers was inflamed in May by a researcher who claims to have resolved any doubt that the weapons can cause death.

The study, published in a journal of the American Heart Association, represents the first peer-reviewed research to show the weapons can cause cardiac arrest and to specify how that happens — through a process called cardiac electric capture, said its author, Dr. Douglas Zipes of Indiana University.

This phenomenon is what allows a defibrillator to stimulate a heart, but a Taser shock can rev the organ to a speed it can't handle, Zipes said.

"In no way should the article be taken as a condemnation of Taser," he said. "The purpose of the article is to save lives by demonstrating that, under certain circumstances, a Taser shock can produce cardiac arrest."

Zipes' study focused on eight males ages 16 to 48 who went into cardiac arrest after taking a shock. Only one was revived by medical personnel. Zipes reviewed medical and police records, among others, before concluding that the cases show a Taser shock can spur an abnormal heart rhythm that leads to cardiac arrest.

Taser International spokesman Steve Tuttle criticized Zipes for focusing his study on just eight subjects and cited the doctor's work as an expert witness for plaintiffs suing over Taser uses as evidence of his "lack of objectivity and scientific rigor."

This is not strictly a struggle between a cardiologist and Taser International. Revelations about the Taser's safety are crucial to the broader argument about when and where officers should be drawing the weapon, said Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor who studies policing.

"You don't use a weapon that can result in death to stop somebody from running away who may not be a danger to anyone," he said.